Alcohol venues targeted in police crack down

DESPITE an overall reduction in alcohol-related crime in Sydney, police charged more than half of the pubs and clubs in Parramatta with licence infringements on the weekend.

The charges made over licence breaches followed last weekend's intensive police patrol across the city for Operation Unite to "crack down on anti-social behaviour".

The incidents included a "small fight" on Friday night in front of PJ's Irish Pub on the corner of Church and Parks streets, where they arrested two people.

At least five people were charged after a mass brawl at The Roxy Hotel, on George Street, Sunday night.

An officer was punched in the head and required treatment at Westmead Hospital during the brawl.

Police also said that a woman, 26, collapsed at the hotel and needed to be resuscitated.

Detective Inspector Frank Gilroy said 17 of Parramatta's 33 venues were charged for licence breaches but he did not consider the city a hot spot for alcohol-related crime.

"You only have to look at the list (of violent venues in NSW) to see that," he said.

"There's none here on the top-level restrictions."

Detective Inspector Gilroy said police and licensees had co-operated to reduce alcohol-related crime in Parramatta.

Assault rates on licensed venues are at historic lows in NSW, according to Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures.

The latest figures found a drop of more than 11 per cent in assaults in the state's pubs and clubs.

The Albion Hotel is the only venue in Parramatta currently on the list of the state's most violent pubs and clubs and has a level two restriction for recording 12 assaults between July 2011 and June this year.

Licensees of the Roxy and Albion hotels did not respond to requests for comment.